I feel like the controversiality of that statement depends entirely on the context. Enemies with health bars where you just mash Homing Attack in something like 06? Yeah, that's stupid I think most can agree. Things like Frontiers' proper combat system? That's where it gets more controversial. I think it's great personally.
I think actually it's because Mania is following S3K, in that it's basically The Real Sonic 4, and thus there was a pressure to not cut things introduced in the game before it. And yeah, IMO it would've been a disappointment if the game was smaller scope than S3K, especially given that the game's whole gimmick is that you've played the prior 2D titles. (slams the Agree button)
You want an unpopular opinion? Well, here you go: I dislike Super Sonic Racing. I don't know, it just really... doesn't fit the type of music I'm supposed to enjoy.
Story, presentation, and visuals matter just as much to me in a Sonic game as the gameplay itself. It's why I like things like the Storybook games so much, even if the gameplay is ultimately inoffensive and at worst mediocre, the story and theming elevate the games to being pretty good in my mind. I can understand why others might feel otherwise, but me personally? As long as the gameplay isn't downright frustrating I'm usually down with most Sonic games if everything else is good. (In fact, if I'm being honest I would probably actually like Forces if it was just written well with cool cutscenes and nothing else about the gameplay was different, ahaha.)
I don’t like it much either. It’s probably my least favorite track from the game. It really rubs me the wrong way when songs name reference the games that way. “Sonic’s in the lead, giving us greater speed…” “E.G.G.M.A.N.” and “You Can Do Anything,” work for me for some reason though. The fact that “I’m Here” says the word “frontiers” sort of brought it down for me too initially, but it played yesterday while working and I was able to get into it. Off-topic: I find it so hard to work with the boss themes from Frontiers playing despite loving them. I end up making stank face from the guitar work and wanting to sing during the choruses lol. The cyberspace stages really put you into a nice trance though.
I’m genuinely a little disappointed the Wisps weren’t in Sonic Frontiers. They’re an incredibly fun gimmick and I think it’d be a blast to toy around with them in an open world.
Unpopular opinion, i think? Every attempt at treating Eggman as more of a 1 dimensional character has been bad to eh. Most recent examples being Spoiler IDW and Frontiers. . Because most of the time it challenges the status quo that is most likely never gonna change in the worst ways possible. I find myself liking most of the story and characterization decisions in the recent comics, however, these stories tend juxtapose certain characters with Eggman, and if they get to have nuance in their characters, Eggman has too, and that just doesn't sit right with me. Like characters like Shadow, Chaos and Surge come from a very understandable place why they were angry and full of spite, and there were other parties who enabled them to do harm or cause damages, but Eggman...Eggman does the things he does because he's Eggman, he's cartoonishly over competent, and can threaten the world every weekend all by himself. This franchise requires a lot of suspension of disbelief to engage with it's stories in the first place, and i believe there's always room to tell more mature stories with sonic and have the m be excellent, but to reframe the status quo and having Eggman feel like an actual character rather than a stand in for all that is bad with this world, yeah it requires a lot to make it work. Worst offender for me tho has to be Sonic X tho, like Eggman in that one is both cartoonishly competent and incompetent, and everytime the stakes of the story gets high, he acts like "oops, i don't know what's happening, this is too much for me, i'm just a simple cartoon villain", in the same episode where he builds a robot to kill sonic and almost kills chris too and he acts all surprised when it's working (but it was out of his control...which makes it even more ridiculous). And later in the last season, he serves as a moral anchor for the cast? like how stops sonic from going dark sonic, or how he acts as a double agent and helps chris in the end? Like man, you're an awful human being, you don't get to be the character that reminds us of better and simpler times. the more successful attempts at humanizing Eggman as far as i know is Spoiler adventure 2, IDW and frontiers , yet still...what they set up might be interesting, i'd be lying if Eggman's dynamic with certain characters in these projects isn't exciting, but, will it go anywhere? will it mean anything? or are we just complicating things for complexity's sake?
What would they even do? You can do most of their functions in the game without them. Lightning? Sonic has the Light Speed Dash back so its irrelevant Laser? Theres the bouncing wall mini-boss. Spikes? You have the Drop Dash for rolling-into-a-ball needs and theres wall-climbing anyway. Burst? Ok I'll give you that one. Would be nice to cheese the platforming leading to the Grey Emerald.
I don't mind trying to humanize Eggman, but the way they do it always feel like they're missing the point of the character. He's not misguided or confused in the way characters like Shadow, or Blaze are, everything he does is purely for his own satisfaction and ego. The second you start subverting that, you inherently start toning down his villainy. But some people just want him to be Bowser I guess.
I feel like Eggman having human character moments is always best when they're few and far between. He'd lose any and all intimidation factor if you saw him mope around each and every game, but having them be rare as they are right now really works in my opinion. The reason seeing Eggman act actually emotional like in Frontiers or SA2's ending hits so hard is exactly because they don't come up often. Although I haven't watched Sonic X since I was like 10 or 12 though, and while I did love it, I can't comment on the way that show did it since it's been so long
1 - Marble Zone is actually pretty good. The music is great. I love the visuals and little secrets. I don't mind pushing blocks at all and some of the lava sections can be "skipped" using Sonic's momentum. The slope mechanics at the top of the level are also pretty fun. One of the best Sonic 1 zones. 2 - Sonic 1 for the Master System is a really great game. I have a nostalgic connection with it, of course. But honestly, even while trying to look at it with a more critical eye, I can't find much that strikes me as "poor level design" or anything like that. It's a competent 8-bit platformer. It's no Mario 3, but it's pretty good and the music rocks. 3 - SA2 is a bit boring. I like Shadow, I like the story and the climax of it. But it's in the moment to moment gameplay that I have issues with the game. Sonic's gameplay is not as liberating as it was in SA1 and I find his levels to be a bit too short and scarce. Tails is just Gamma, but less fun (kind of overstated his welcome, IMO) and Knuckles is fun, but the radar is busted (also, I prefer SA1's short and sweet Knuckles stages). The visual variety is also lacking (too many repeats for its own good) and not being able to choose your character is almost criminal. Kills the game for me. 4 - Unleashed isn't horrible, but it isn't good either. The medals break the pace real time and the Werehog just isn't fun. I don't know why they thought it would be a good idea to put a weak hack n slash experience in a Sonic game... It's a real problem considering it's the biggest part of the game. The story is good, but that shouldn't be what defines if a Sonic game is great or not. 5 - Mario & Sonic isn't that bad when you accept it for what it is. 6 - Aside from Forces, the "meta era" was really dope.
I'm of the opinion you can have a more human Eggman, and a very entertaining villain at the same time, i just think that requires a significant shift and change in his character that we're not seeing.
